On the Red Road ..

Red Road

The Red Road is a personal journey through life that one must walk alone. It is the good road of balance and harmony. A road that we pave by our daily actions and decisions.

The land we live on is the sacred land of the Red people, the indigenous people of North America. Their spirituality will inevitably seep into us and lead us along the Red Road, teaching us again to honor the earth and live according to the rhythms of nature.

Brute force in parenting ..

My husband and I use starkly different approaches when it comes to parenting our children. While I frequently resort to the faster, short cut approach of brute force to enforce discipline and compliance he always takes the longer, arduous route of patiently wrangling and reasoning with them.

Today, in one epiphanous moment I have decided to let go brute force once and for all in parenting. I hope to use the slower but surer force of love and reasoning.

This decision comes from the conviction that the 'means to achieve any end must also be just'. Brute force is violence and using it even sparingly makes me a brute. Brute force only achieves immediate outward compliance. Inward transformation is only achieved by appealing to another's reason.

This is what Gandhi's Satyagraha stands for. Employing peaceful methods at all times. The decision to give up brute force will demand more of me ..in developing patience and exercising self control.

Non-violence is a weapon of the strong - Gandhi

Quality maketh a man ..

In the innumerable interactions with people during the course of life only a few leave a lasting impression on us. The ones that do are men that set a high personal standard for themselves. Inwardly our respect is reserved only for them.

Once we get past the physical appearances, cultural differences and external characteristics, the true distinguishing factor between men is the quality he demands of himself and others. We reveal our own standards in all our daily actions. In the quality of our work, our ethics, our speech, the books we read .. in the quality of food we eat and what we serve to others

What distinguishes the “elite” from the masses is only their insistence upon “quality.” - Dag Hammarskjold

Simplicity .. contentment with less

Simplicity of the Amish, Quakers and Shakers

The ongoing journey of simplifying my life has involved shedding excesses in all aspects of living paving the way for a quieter, centred, inwardly rich life.

Material excesses and dependency on stuff must be reduced to essentials. This includes excess body weight accumulated from years of neglect. Adopting a lean, natural diet and moderation in consumption removes the heaviness and keeps us lithe and agile.

Mental excesses are aspects that impact our mind. Relationship invariably affects our mind. Keeping social interactions down to a few meaningful ones is worth more than several superficial connections. Our speech and thought must be simple and straight. A simple philosophy to live by frees us from many a burdens .. of rituals, traditions, religions, compulsions and preconceived beliefs freeing up the mind from many reins. For me it is a pantheistic philosophy that ties everything together beautifully both logically and spiritually.

As we become simpler in our ways, we can begin to experience the freedom and lightness of being.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free 
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, 
And when we find ourselves in the place just right, 
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight. 
When true simplicity is gained, 
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed, 
To turn, turn will be our delight, 
Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

- Shaker song by Elder Joseph Brackett.

Hope always ..

This picture gives me great hope. No matter how much concrete we dump, life will still find an opening. The elements of nature are constantly at work trying to restore the natural order of things. Anything going against nature will eventually decay and crumble. So long as we are aligned with nature, there is always hope and healing!

The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well. Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease. - Hippocrates (ancient Greek physician) 

Yehudi Menuhin: Deeper insights into playing the violin ..

Yehudi Menuhin, painting by Myfanwy Pavelic

Excerpts from Menuhin's memoir Unfinished Journey, to read and reread ..

"The performing violinist continually reviews the hours, days and weeks preceding a performance, charting the many elements that will release his potential ... he knows that when his body is exercised, his blood circulating, his stomach light, his mind clear, the music ringing in his heart, his violin clean and polished, its strings in good order, the bow hair full and evenly spread, then - but only then - he is in command ... But neglect of the least of these elements must gnaw his conscience. 

“So a violinist lives in training. He makes his body his vocation. His stance must be erect yet supple so that, like a graceful reed, he may wave with the breeze and yet remain perfectly aligned from head through spine to feet. He is a living structure stretched between the magnets of sun and earth. Just as only a stretched string can vibrate, so before a violinist's body vibrates he must feel drawn upward, his head delicately poised on the vertebrae, his diaphragm raising him on a cushion of air, while the working parts of his anatomy - shoulders and arms, hands and fingers -float and balance at different levels. Elegant management of the body is among the qualities civilisation denies us, and too often the violin, inviting surrender, only makes rigidity more rigid."

"All influences pointed towards less tension, more effective application of energy, the breaking down of resistance in every joint, the coordination of all motions into one motion; and illustrated the profound truth that strength comes not from strength but from the subtle comprehension of  process, of proportion and balance."

"..what the eye sees - the raised arm - is but the last link in a chain of events originating in the mind. To be conscious of these events as they happen, before they are apparent to the eye, is a lesson in the subtlety I believe to be a cardinal principle of violin playing; but just to awaken oneself to them is enough."

"Not for the violinist the exhibitionist and fiery springing from seat or keyboard of a virtuoso pianist, or the acrobatics of certain conductors. He is part of his violin, his left hand fingering its way, without any margin for error, over the millimetric subdivisions of a space that varies like a slide rule, and his bow never leaving the string but under precise, controlled conditions."

"Perfection cannot be achieved unless its pursuit becomes a way of life. My goal has been so to play the violin that whatever I play is an exercise for whatever I might play. Concentrated observation and practice of minuteness are gradually absorbed; the conscious brain is short-circuited;"

Creation is sacrosanct ...

Sringeri - a snake protects a pregnant frog

Hinduism reveres creation and birth as holiest of holies! The womb or garbha is considered the most sacred place as it houses and nourishes the new life. Where ever new life is ushered, that land is sacred and by that analogy, the entire earth is sacred. The highest duty of man is to protect creation and allow the work of mother nature to flow uninterrupted. 

The legend of Sringeri exemplifies this spirit. Legend has it that when a great sage came to Sringeri, nestled in Sahyadri mountain ranges, he saw an extraordinary sight on the banks of the Tunga river. A cobra with a raised hood was providing shelter to a frog that was about to give birth, providing the mother some shade from the scorching afternoon sun. The sage was struck by this sight where an adverse enemy goes beyond its natural instinct to protect the birth of new life. Here the sage established his first monastery!

The act of procreation is the holy work of nature and not something to be ashamed of. The human body is not considered as vulgar ..instead it is glorified in all its beauty and life giving capability. This spirit is visible in all Hindu temples where sculptures of virile and full-figured humans, pregnant women and all forms of life are equally revered.